Building the resilience muscle: A conversation with Leonardo Hirschbrand

In this episode of Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Leo Hirschbrand, longtime Unilever leader and now part of NTT DATA. Leo shares lessons from his nearly 30-year career navigating digital transformation, building resilient teams and embracing the new frontier of AI. Together, he and Tammy explore building emotional muscle and the human side of technology.

Highlights from the episode include:

• Building resilience through transparency. Leo shares his leadership philosophy of bringing teams into the reality of challenges early. Rather than hiding uncertainty, showing vulnerability as a leader builds trust and creates stronger teams.
• Synthetic agents are reshaping market research. By training on massive datasets linked to real human profiles, synthetic agents can simulate customer feedback. Brands can test ideas and extract insights at a scale and speed beyond traditional focus groups.
• Data is key to the AI conversation. While AI capabilities are growing rapidly, success still depends on the quality, structure and stewardship of the data feeding these systems. Trust and security must remain a priority.

Check out the full episode to hear more about balancing technology with humans’ emotional context and why a sense of fun is essential to success.

Enjoying Catalyst? Don't forget to like and subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday!

Please note that the views expressed in this episode may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA.‍